Life slowly returns to some version of normal.. Here’s what I’m seeing so far for Sptember.
After the relative busyness of July; Fringe, TSM, August really does look pretty quiet. There are a few things on though:
As I pivot from the Fringe to Toronto Summer Music I thought I’d lay out a few thoughts about this year’s Toronto Fringe. Obviously this is based on my sample of eight shows out of the huge number on offer but some of my thoughts seemed to be confirmed by conversations over the course of the week.
Me with cast and crew members of Regarding Antigone
July in Toronto is really all about two festivals; the Toronto Fringe Festival and Toronto Summer Music.
The Fringe runs July 2nd to July 13th and there are more than 100 shows on 20+ stages. There’s a huge range of performance styles; drama, comedy, clowning, musicals, stand up etc. Most shows run an hour or less and the standard ticket price is $18.75 though there are plenty of discounts plus multi show passes as well as free events at the Fringe Hub which this year is at Soulpepper with events also across the street at Old Flame brewery. Quality varies a lot. Some shows are excellent; Monks last year would be a case in point, but others a re a bit meh. But that’s the point really. You can see what looks interesting to you. All the details are here.
Things slow down just a little bit in June but with both Luminato and Opera 5’s Opera festival it’s not that quiet. Here’s what’s coming down:
Here are my top picks for May.
So what looks fun in March?
Before looking forward to next month I want to mention a couple of things this weekend that I haven’t previously noticed. Saturday (Jan 25th) at 12.30pm there is a Met HD broadcast of new production of Aida with a pretty interesting looking cast. Later, at 6pm there’s a rather special concert at the Arts and letters Club to celebrate the 100th birthday of Morry Kernerman (former assistant concertmaster of both the TSO and OSM). The concert is presented by Canzona Chamber Players and wiull feature Trio Uchida-Crozman-Chiu. Continue reading
So what’s in store for Toronto early in the New Year?
Here’s what’s coming down for the holiday season, as best I know:
operaramblings 